Week 1 of college football has (almost) come to an end. All of Cincinnati’s opponents played this weekend and we all know about the good (Temple over Penn St, BYU over Nebraska) and the bad (UCF embarrassed by Florida International). Overall, UC opponents finished 10-1 on the weekend (thanks UCF) but here is a closer look on how each team fared.
Temple:
Beat Penn State 27-10
Temple comes to Nippert next weekend fresh off a win over Big Ten opponent Penn State. While tailgating on The Grid, I was able to catch a few glimpses of this game and it seemed as if Temple disrupted Penn State early and often which led to the Owls beating the Nittany Lions for the first time in 74 years. This narrowly beats out BYU for most impressive win by a UC opponent this weekend as the Owls had a whopping 10 sacks on Christian Hackenburg. I definitely expect Temple to come to Nippert fired up and ready to go against the Bearcats.
Miami (OH):
Beat Presbyterian 26-7
The RedHawks jumped out to a 13-0 lead on the Blue Hose of Presbyterian in the first half and eventually won with a score of 26-7. Miami QB Drew Kummer threw for 2 touchdowns and running back Alonzo Smith also ran for 2 touchdowns.
Memphis:
Beat Missouri State 63-7
Returning starter Paxton Lynch completed 8 of 12 passes for 78 yards and 1 TD. The Memphis rushing attack totaled 317 yards and 5 scores on the ground as the Tigers easily beat Missouri State.
Miami (FL):
Beat Bethune Cookman 45-0
Brad Kaaya went 16 of 27 for 173 yards and 2 touchdowns. As Bearcats fans know, Miami running game torched the UC defense last year but lost star Duke Johnson to the NFL. This year’s Miami squad totaled 195 yards rushing on the ground versus Bethune Cookman as Miami won 45-0.
BYU:
Beat Nebraska 33-28
In arguably the most exciting finish this weekend. BYU won on a last second Hail Mary which was both a great catch by BYU and terrible defense by Nebraska. The bad news (good news for UC) about this win is the star QB Taysom Hill suffered a season ending foot injury in the 33-28 win over the Cornhuskers.
Uconn:
Beat Villanova 20-15
One of the first games of the 2015 season, UConn faced a matchup against former Big East conference mate in the Villanova Wildcats. Unfortunately, this matchup was not nearly as exciting as the games were on the basketball court, but UConn squeaked out a win 20-15.
UCF:
Loss to Florida International 15-14
The worst loss of the weekend definitely goes to UCF as they looked absolutely pathetic against Florida International. Many had UCF as one of the favorites in the conference this year. Rumors begin to swirl earlier in the week that UCF coach George O’Leary wanted to step down as the UCF head coach and focus on his Athletic Director duties. This may have played a role in the disappointing showing as UCF fell to FIU, 15-14.
Houston:
Beat Tennessee Tech 52-24
Tom Herman began his head coaching career with a win against Tennessee Tech 52-24. Houston QB Greg Ward Jr. completed 21 of 27 passes for 275 yards and rushed for an additional 101 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Tulsa:
Beat Florida Atlantic 47-44
The Golden Hurricane squeaked out a win over Florida Atlantic 47-44. The game went into overtime and QB Duane Evans appeared to play the entire game where he completed 21 of 33 passes for 424 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
USF:
Beat Florida A&M 51-3
USF easily beat Florida A&M by a score of 51-3. Highly recruited QB Quinton Flowers passed for 141 and 2 TDs while also throwing an interception. D’Ernest Johnson, brother of UC wide receiver Tshumbi Johnson rushed for 15 yards. The Bulls’ leading rusher was Marlon Mack who had 23 rushes for 131 yards and 1 TD.
ECU:
Beat Towson 28-20
ECU entered the fourth quarter beating Towson 21-12 and held on to beat the Tigers 28-20. ECU Blake Kemp threw for 230 yards but did not record a touchdown pass. Running back Chris Hairston rushed for 154 yards on 18 attempts and had a whopping 4 touchdowns.
Photo by Michael Leff/Getty Images
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